disaster, disaster
by aaalways
Summary: he was starting to think that the wedding might go off without a hitch - okay, no, one hitch. or, two people getting hitched, technically. but, the point is, things were finally going to plan. and then the body dropped. literally.


**notes:** written for the au challenge at gameofcards at livejournal. this idea has been nagging at me for a long time, since before the finale. it's actually what i had in mind for my ideal wedding episode, since i knew we'd never get just forty minutes of their wedding, as much as i'm sure we all would have liked to, but at least this way we'd get to see a lot of it, whilst also getting a 'case of the week' of sorts. but yep, this challenge finally gave me the push i needed to try writing it. but okay, basically just imagine the episode happened like it did minus those last couple of minutes and... yep. i hope you like it? *hides*

* * *

Two days into what seemed like nothing more than a stupid, ridiculous series of disasters, each one worse than the last, Esposito had muttered something about it being a sign from the universe, _bro, it's not supposed to be this tough to get married,_ but Ryan shrugged it off. He put it down to it being them. Castle and Beckett. They've never done anything simply - they've always taken the longer, tougher route, and maybe they tripped up along the way, but they reached their destination anyway - so why would their wedding be any different. Besides, he absolutely refuses to believe that after everything those two have been through to reach this point, that the universe has anything other than the most, blissfully happy, wonderful day of their lives in store for them.

And for a moment there, it almost looked like that might be the case. Beckett's divorce papers had been signed, Castle had finally made it back from the city with the marriage licence twenty minutes ago and somehow Alexis had even managed to find him a suit that fit him properly. He was starting to think that the wedding might go off without a hitch - okay, no, _one _hitch. Or, two people _getting_hitched, technically. But, the point is, things were finally going to plan. Or well, the new plan. The _amended_ plan. This isn't the venue, Beckett's wearing the wrong dress and there's that thing with the band, too, but Martha told him to keep quite about that. Mostly, though, things were going well.

And then the body dropped.

Literally.

"This isn't happening, this _is not_ happening." Ryan's pacing the room, shuffling back and forth over the same strip of plush carpet with his hands pressed firmly into his eye sockets, like he can physically force the image of the dead body laying in the doorway out of his mind. He has to pull his fingers away when watching the colours play inside his eyelids starts to make him feel dizzy. He wobbles in place for a moment, and tries to focus his eyes on Esposito, who is currently crouched over the body, using one tissue covered hand to prod at the man. "This is all your fault," he accuses, when he's doesn't feel like he's about to topple over anymore.

"Excuse me?" Ryan's eyes are a little blurry still, but it looks like Esposito's glaring at him. "My fault? I didn't do anything!" Okay, yep, that's a glare, Ryan decides, when Espo gives up on his attempted examination of the body, and moves to stand in front of his partner. He's definitely angry.

"You said things were going surprisingly well," Ryan points out, anyway, because Esposito might be mad, but it's still his fault. "You shouldn't have said that."

"Oh come on!" Esposito says, "Like you weren't thinking the exact same thing."

"No, I was," Ryan agrees, bobbing his head, "But I know better than to say it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You jinxed it, you jinxed the wedding. And now a man's dead!" Ryan says, his hands waving wildly, before gesturing towards the body of the man, laying in the middle of the room. He's surrounded by debris, the dust and flecks of ceiling tile that fell from above, just before the body itself toppled down.

"I didn't kill him!"

"Might as well have," Ryan says, grumbling. He regrets it immediately when he sees the glare his partner is shooting his way. "Okay, no. You definitely jinxed the wedding but…" He stutters to a stop when Esposito's glaring gets even more intense. It's almost as scary as a Beckett glare, and Ryan has to fight the urge to congratulate his friend on that. The Beckett glare isn't east. But now is probably not the right time. Plus Esposito looks like he's genuinely thinking of strangling him right now, so Ryan holds his tongue, and puts hands out in front of himself, waving them back and forth as he shuffles a few steps away from the angry looking Esposito. "No, right. You didn't jinx it and you didn't kill him. Sorry."

The glare is dialled down a notch, and Esposito nods, just once. "Glad we got that cleared up."

"I didn't do it either."

"Yeah, I know that." Esposito's eye roll is suspiciously Beckett-like too, and Ryan wonders if maybe his partner has been practicing that. Probably not. "Why would I think you did it?"

Ryan shrugs. "I just wanted to put it out there."

"Great. Well it's out there."

"Yeah. Okay, good."

"Yeah, good. We've ruled out two suspects who weren't even suspects."

"Everything is ruined, isn't it?" He thinks he might be panicking. He feels panicky. Bickering with Esposito had distracted him for a moment, but now the horror of the situation was hitting him all over again. His hands are sweaty, his heart is beating too fast and he felt like he might cry. He might just sit down right here next to the dead body and cry because the universe should not be this cruel. "Everything they went through to get here, five years and the past few days and now it's ruined! It's all ruined! This is the worst day ever!"

There's that eye roll again, and Ryan decides that crying probably wouldn't be a good idea right now, because Esposito would probably make fun of him.

"Oh geez, Ryan. Calm down. Everything is not ruined, we'll just call it in, they can send out another squad. It's fine."

"No it's not. CSU will be all over this place, and they'll want statements and alibis, because chances are it's someone at the wedding, a guest, or someone they hired…"

"Shit."

"Exactly," Ryan cries, "It's all ruined, the most important day of her life, of their lives, and there's a dead guy next door? It's supposed to be romantic, and magical. Flowers and candles and dancing-"

"Okay, fine," Esposito interrupts. "You can cool it with the lovey-dovey crap, Ryan."

"But no dead people," Ryan continues, like he didn't hear his partner speak. "Dead people are not romantic. There should be no dead people at weddings."

"Oh geez, okay, you've made your point," Esposito says, cutting Ryan off again. "But if we can't call it in, what do you suggest we do? Solve it ourselves?"

"Well," Ryan says, slowly. "We could."

"We're groomsmen, I think they'd notice if we didn't show up."

"So then we solve it in secret!"

"You are not serious."

"Of course I'm serious." Ryan grins. "It'll be fun."

"No," Esposito says. "It won't."


End file.
